With Time
by vikaelah
Summary: It doesn't take him long to realize that she's too good for him. Sasuke-centric.
1. Intro

**A/N:** Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

He doesn't let himself see her for a while, even after she's healed him and discharged him from the hospital.

Not even Naruto, as outwardly spirited as he is, disturbs him in his solitude. As soon as he could stand on his own, he made his way to the main Uchiha estate, which remained intact, and surprisingly, clean despite its years.

He doesn't let anyone in on his thoughts for a good month after the war. The village, still recuperating from the damages it sustained, was the complete opposite of his quiet demeanor. There were small celebrations with nightly fireworks and food stands giving away discounted goods. The funerals and ceremonies were over and it appeared everyone was in the mood to give thanks to the universe. Konoha was in good spirits.

But not Sasuke.

He felt like a stranger in a new world, surrounded by it all without having to cloak his identity. _The_ Sasuke Uchiha, residing in a village encircled by a chakra shield, while his own signature, strong and glaringly obvious to any nin in the vicinity, going unnoticed was something he was not used to.

He simply felt weird, he decided, one day on his way to grab groceries from the market. He saw the looks they threw him and felt their eyes linger onto his form a second too long. He saw mothers gathering their children closer to them as he walked by. Gazes were averted, and yet he still felt the slimy scrutiny of the villagers. The tomatoes in his hand were close to being crushed.

It would take a while to adjust, he told himself. It would be a few more weeks until he felt comfortable enough to do more than eat, train, and roam around the house, cleaning and being as domestic as he could possibly be.

To admit that he was uncomfortable with his position in the village was beyond him. He would not allow anyone to believe that he was too scared to interact with the villagers, much less his former teammates, and so he continues his frustratingly mundane routine.

* * *

He thinks it's all too soon when the three of them, called by the newly appointed Hokage himself, are summoned for their first mission together.

It's quick, and easy, because there isn't much action in a C-ranked objective. To escort a valuable man to his village was oddly reminiscent to their first mission together, and Sasuke can't help but to roll his eyes at his former sensei for being such a sap.

Inwardly, he wishes for something outside the country borders. His atrophying muscles are screaming for something fast-paced, bloody, and complicated. His feet crave the long thick branches of the forest and he misses the _clang_ and _whiz_ of kunai. He then wonders, as he watches Naruto and Sakura interact with the civilian, if his teammates ever want the constant action he wants. If they enjoy the thrill of battle as he does, and if they seek it, like he does.

He must be damaged, he silently muses, and suddenly, he's frustrated and tired and angry and suffocated. He walks alone, behind the rest as they continue to their destination.

He ignores Naruto's protests to hurry it up and pretends he doesn't see the hurt in his eye when Sasuke tells him to _shut the fuck up so we go home and stop wasting time on stupid missions._

As if he had better things to do with his time, really.

* * *

He declines the offer to eat with them at Ichiraku, but sits with them long enough to slide Teuchi the paid bill. He leaves a surprised but thankful Naruto and promises to spar with him later that week to make up for his shit attitude earlier.

There's a lighter feeling to him as he walks home, and all he wants in the world is to lay in his bed and wait for darkness to overtake his senses. Although he had done close to nothing compared to his previous regimen, he was exhausted by the amount of time he spent out in the open with people.

Which is why he doesn't know exactly how to react when a pink-haired medic falls in-step with him on his way home.

"That was nice of you," she starts, and he sees from the corner of his eye that she's smiling that all too bright smile of hers.

He _tsks _and offers her nothing to converse with.

And yet she finds a way to make conversation, as she continues, "you must be hungry after today, and so I picked this up." From behind her, she pulls something out of her obi and shows him a small dumpling container with onigiri and sliced tomatoes placed artfully inside of it. He blinks and stops walking to turn to her. "I'm glad I caught you! I thought it would be too late to give this to you since you walk so fast."

He takes the food from her hands and doesn't get a chance to say a proper thank you because just like that, she leaves with a wave, hastily explaining that there was paperwork to be done at the hospital.

Looking at the packaging in his hands, he finds that there is a warmness creeping up his neck and he can't shake it off, so instead he walks the rest of the way home at an increased pace, trying not to think too much into what happened.

Despite himself, later that night, he dreams of bright smiles and green eyes.

* * *

**A/N:** ^-^ Hooray for socially inept Sasuke-kun! Reviews would be nice guys.


	2. High Time

A/N: Standard disclaimer applies.

* * *

Warm air and a soft breeze that brushes against his cheek greet Sasuke as he steps outside his compound. The sun peeks through translucent clouds, and he tilts his head to meet the rays, as if to approve of the day to come.

The village is calm and there are traces of celebration left - with the minimal bunches of balloons still tied to the food carts, but almost everyone has gone back to their respective schedules. Sasuke walks between the buildings of Konoha, square-shouldered, straight-faced, and carrying an aura that causes many to shy away. He takes long, graceful strides to the training grounds of Team 7, exuding the infamous confidence of an Uchiha.

He's half way to his destination before he sees her, bent down to a sheepishly smiling girl, with what looked like an injured arm.

"Arigatou!" exclaims a little girl, holding out a bandaged hand to Sakura. She brings her tiny limb closer to her face to inspect it.

He's close enough to see Sakura's expression and she's smiling. "Just be a bit more careful next time, okay? Kunai are not to be gripped by both ends," she admonishes, lightly.

Sasuke sees the girl's head nodding excitedly. "Sugoi!" Her eyes widen as she moves her arm up and down animatedly. "I wanna be just like you when I'm older, Sakura-chan!"

"You'll be a strong kunoichi, I'm sure of it." She laughs and pats the small girl on the head, waves a quick goodbye, and turns to the direction he's headed.

With the comfortable distance between them, he takes a moment to observe her. He hasn't seen her since their last encounter and he feels a secret heat creeping up his neck once again. He watches her slender body weave through the throngs of people and notices, with a slight sneer, that he's not the only one watching.

There are several men who don't bother to conceal their gazes. A few women wave at her politely, and many children look up and smile at her with toothy grins as she walks up to greet them. She garners lots of attention, he sees.

A man clad in a thick-armored shinobi uniform with broad shoulders and short brown hair walks next to Sakura and places his hand on her upper back. It's a familiar touch between them, apparently, as he sees her relax when she realizes who it is. The small exchange is enough to irk Sasuke, who is painfully aware of the fact that he's too uninvolved with the events of her life to even feel irritation.

With a frown, he reasons that Naruto or Kakashi, and even Sai would be unpleased with the display set before him. Anyone in her life would have named this unknown fellow as a red flag.

But that was just it.

He wasn't part of her life and he made no attempt to express that he wanted in, either.

They haven't spoken privately or properly in the five months since the war's end, and their last in-deph conversation consisted of an awkward medical check-up with strained grimaces and curt responses. He saw her on missions and training sessions but their interactions during them were confined solely to social expectation. She was his former teammate, and she played nice in order not to ruin Naruto's idealistic world. She was hardly his friend, outside of their seemingly close-knit circle.

The rubberized bottoms of his sandals kick the earth none too gently, and he nearly trips on his way to the grounds. Catching himself, and chalking his minor slip up to lack of rest, he realizes that the blurred outline of Sakura's body is no longer in his line of vision. He had slowed down enough that she'd beaten him to their destination.

Deepening his already severe frown, he trudged along. He was _always_ the first to train.

_Tsk._

And today was supposed to be a good day.

* * *

She's sweaty and bruised, but her chakra is strong and steady. Her byakugo isn't activated, however, internally, her body does nothing but heal the cuts that are constantly appearing on her body.

Sasuke's rougher than usual today. They start with hand-to-hand, but he changes the pace to insinuate he wants more of a challenge. He pulls out kusanagi quick enough that Sakura barely has the chance to bob and weave her way out of his kata. They dance together like that, with her on the defensive, and him on the offense.

Her usual medic-skirt is discarded and today, she opts for a cropped wine lycra top and black shorts. She's made do without a bra, as well.

Sasuke sneers.

She's distracting, to say the least.

Her vicious punches, void of their monstrous strength, are still dangerous enough to cause laceration, so Sasuke is careful to keep his distance. The taut muscles of her stomach flex as she somersaults forward to close the space he created between them and he can't help but appreciate the toned lines that decorate her feminine body.

Metal screeches against metal when Sakura pulls a three-dozen senbon out of her thigh holster and strategically throws them to be blocked by his sword. She takes the fraction of a second that he's distracted and ricochets herself off the ground high up enough to twist her body head first as she plummets.

He stops to look up, squinting with the light in his eye.

_She's fucking crazy. _But he's too fast and too smart not to see her bluff.

At the last second, she twists her agile body once again to deliver a devastating heel dig to the earth. The impact is large enough that it takes a second before the entire half of the training ground is swallowed up from underneath them. Jagged edges of rock protrude from the crater, and Sakura lands herself on one. She perches herself on top of a particularly tall piece of debris to survey the scene before her while the dust settled.

She saw nothing, and felt no chakra present. With her eyes widened slightly, and her mouth hung open, she stood surprised that he'd escaped such a blow.

Suddenly, a hand emerges from under her and grabs her ankle tightly, and out shoots Sasuke with a menacing look on his face.

Her guerilla-style fighting is becoming troublesome, and he decides that has no choice but to stop her up close and personal. He tightens the grip on her ankle enough to turn the skin purple and without preamble, unceremoniously throws her into the dirt.

Her chakra saves her again, forming a thin barrier around her body to quell the hit.

But he's relentless as he moves to straddle her. He grabs both of her forearms and positions them above her head, presses himself hard onto her, and lowers his head so the beads of sweat rolling down his neck and face are hitting her face. This surprises the both of them, but Sakura, especially, who yells a quick and shrill, "I yield! I'm done Sasuke!"

Even with one hand, he still wins.

He gets up, quickly, ignoring the feeling in his stomach, and turns so that his back is to her. He hears her sitting up and patting herself free of the dust and dirt covering her. He wants to turn around and say something. A thank you for training. A compliment for her strength. Anything, really.

But he doesn't, and he's starting to walk away before he hears her.

"You don't need me to check you for anything?" He turns around to see her reddened, but still very pretty face, looking at him quizzically. She's standing, but her chest is heaving up and down erratically and he can tell she's tired.

He's pretty much unscathed, save for a few unavoidable bruises that always come with training with Sakura, and he wants to say that she looked like she needed more healing than he did, but instead he offers a short, "No."

She laughs and stretches her arms out above her, emphasizing her toned stomach. "Alright, Mr. Impermeable, I'll see you next week."

Without giving him a second glance, she picks up her small bag and jumps to the trees, exiting the training ground, leaving Sasuke slightly bewildered for the second time that day.

_Tsk._ He's _always_ the first one to leave the training grounds.

* * *

He sees her again with the brown-haired guy.

This time, it isn't in the streets where their little touches can be hidden by the people walking past them, but instead it's in front of their colleagues at a pub.

He's all over Sakura, who is dressed in a red number with a plunging neckline. Her hair is tousled and her eyes are darkened by makeup and he can see that she's had quite a bit to drink. At some point during the night, she's standing on top of a table, moving her body to the rhythm of the music, and all eyes are on her long legs and cleavage.

Sasuke is leaning against the bar when he comes along.

The guy orders a scotch and soda, and nods his head to Sasuke.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Of course he's referring to Sakura, and suddenly Sasuke curses himself for being caught looking at her. "I finally got her to go out with me after months of showing up to the hospital for little cuts and bruises. Name's Hakamaru, by the way."

"Hn."

Sasuke hopes this Hakamaru understands that he is a man of few words, but his wishes go unheard. "You guys were team mates once, right?" He downs his cup in one gulp, and looks to Sasuke expectantly.

How utterly annoying. "A long time ago, yes."

Hakamaru sets his glass down and looks away from the object of everyone's attention. "She's a good person. Real sweet," he then takes a swig of his newly filled glass, "beautiful, and not to mention, she's an intellectual. Wish she wasn't so hard to get a hold of though. I'm tryna get serious with that girl."

At that, Sasuke did nothing but sneer. The thumping bass was starting to drill through his head, and if he didn't get out of here soon, he knew he'd wake up with an unwelcomed headache the next morning. And this _Hakamaru _wasn't helping his situation.

"Listen," Sasuke hears him through the shrill words of the song currently playing, but gives him no indication that he's actually listening. The brown-haired shinobi continues anyway, "I've got my heart set on this woman, and I know that you two have a history."

History was such a vague word to describe their tumultuous relationship, and the fact that this ignorant buffoon was bringing it up pissed him off. "What of it?" Sasuke asks, plainly, but not bothering to hide his agitation.

The nin beside him visibly stills, and from the corner of Sasuke's eyes, he sees that Hakamaru's jaw is clenched and the hard lines of his face are intensified by his hardened expression. Shinobi are such idiots when it comes to expressing themselves.

"I was wondering, if maybe," he pauses, carefully editing his words, "you could say a few things. Y'know. Say that I talked to you. You mean something to her, right? I think that if she hears it from you, then I won't be waiting for four hours in the hospital lobby to ask her to dinner," Hakamaru laughs dryly.

Something bubbles inside Sasuke's stomach. It curdles and festers until he can no longer look at the profile of the brown-haired nin. Who Sakura dated was none of his concern, but he was not about to go and help this stranger's personal agenda. Breathing through concealed, clenched teeth, he stands up and makes for the exit, leaving the other man feeling puzzled and slightly unaccomplished.

* * *

Mist welcomes his face, heated by the alcohol and the recent conversation he had. He calmly steps further away from the pub, away from the dancing bodies and promiscuously named drinks, determined to get home as swiftly as he can.

"Sasuke?"

If it were any other day, he would not be alarmed by a presence that he could not detect. If it were any other day, he would be the one doing the greeting. It was the alcohol in his system. It was the alcohol making him react stupidly to stupid men and stupid conversations about stupid pink-haired women.

And by dumb luck would a pink-haired woman be standing in front if him right now.

"Why are you out here?" She had her hands placed on the swell of her hips, and she stood with a proud stance, opposite of the shy, young girl he remembered from their genin days.

He can smell a hint of her fruity scent, tinged with alcohol, and he wonders how she got so close without him noticing. "I could ask you the same."

The heels of her platform shoes click against the concrete beneath them as she saunters over one of the outdoor tables. One of her delicate looking hands comes up to her face, and a single slim finger rests on her lips. She sucks on her teeth, and it's an impatient noise. "I don't know! Ino has me out here looking for a guy that ran out a while ago. She must have chased him away."

Her laughter is airy, and effortless, and he can't stop looking at the curve of her ass and the modest size of her breasts in the revealing outfit she's worn. From where he's standing, he can even make out the details of her face makeup – dark, sultry, and immaculate.

But what really draws him in is intensified green of her irises. Under the moonlight, they are iridescent and glowing, like feline eyes in the dead of night. The gleam in them has him mystified and it's not his slight inebriation that has him staring her like the light has come. Her gaze is hooded and he can see by the pink flush on her cheeks that perhaps she's as fucked up as he.

Suddenly, there are flashes in his head and they are all images of her, sprawled on his bed. Navy sheets covering the parts of her body that he so badly wants to see bare. He sees her legs spread wide open in an "M" with her fingers parting her folds for him. Her head is thrown back and her hair is splayed out until his hand grabs them to yank her towards his face for a brutal kiss. His tongue waters at the thought of tasting her, and with a lick of his lips, he snaps out of his reverie.

With some dignity, he decides tonight is not the night to entertain any thoughts.

"Sakura." He says, loudly, with force. "Go home."

"But Sasuke-_kun_," she purrs. By the exaggeration of the suffix, Sasuke can tell that she's definitely had too much to drink, and that this situation was a code red situation he needed to avoid. "I want to have fun tonight. Do you want to have fun tonight?"

She fingers the front hem of her dangerously low dress.

"Everyone is so boring tonight, and I just want to have a good time." She looks up at the sky and makes an exasperated sound.

"Sakura-"

"You want to have a good time with me, Sasuke-kun?"

He swallows. "I-"

She's relentless as she walks, with grace only granted to shinobi, directly in front him, "I want to have fun with you."

A pounding in his head and chest are what keep Sasuke from grabbing her and having his way with her deliciously tight body. He reminds himself that they are two healthy nineteen year-olds with overactive libidos, and that this particular situation is normal, and not dangerous, and not at all complicated because it is _Sakura_.

Sakura, who he sees on a weekly basis, only because of their profession.

Sakura, who hasn't so much spoken to him without the courage of Naruto since the war.

Sakura, who would politely excuse herself after he entered the same room as her.

This was Sakura, who had men going to great lengths just have a minute of her time.

Sakura, who's presence was enough to suffocate him, while it seemed that his presence suffocated her to the point where she sought his friendship no longer.

No.

This was wrong, and Sasuke knew it.

He trashes all thought of a night with her, and sidesteps her advance. "I'm going home, Sakura. You do the same."

"Sasuke-"

But he was already gone.

* * *

Her chest burned and her eyes felt glossy as she watched the spot where Sasuke stood.

She laughed to herself, feeling out of place and suddenly, very, very cheap in the dress that Ino had picked out for her to wear.

Nothing would get through to him, it seemed. Even with liquid courage, her first attempt since her last (_pathetic_) confession was a dud, and it was painfully obvious that anything she did would be brushed off.

A shudder passed through her and she realized just how long she had been out there, waiting for him to leave so she could have her chance to speak with him.

Maybe the three cosmopolitans were a mistake, because she could hardly make out what she was thinking. Her thoughts felt muddled and her tongue was bone dry.

With a shaky breath, she gathered herself into her arms. She walked towards her apartment, giving in to what Sasuke had advised, knowing it was high time to go home.

* * *

She went to sleep that night with ease, thanks to the alcohol.

That night, she dreamt of offered lunch boxes and small smiles and stoic glances thrown her way that would melt into soft gazes. She dreamt of onyx and purple mismatched eyes and bloodied arms that she could heal in minutes. She saw laughter, love, and alabaster skin. She felt it all.

But by the time she had woken up, she was exhausted and hungover, remembering only tiny remnants of the night before. She remembered how she felt as she watched Sasuke disappear before her.

She winced, as the feeling of last night washed over her, again and again.

What a vicious cycle it was.

While packing away her food quietly, getting ready for her shift at the hospital, and going through the motions of her day, Sakura had made her decision.

She was finished.

Her heart could no longer carry the weight of her love unrequited.

* * *

A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying the slow pace I've set for the beginning of my story. I'm just trying to get you guys to understand where their thoughts are at, and especially with Sasuke because we don't get to read about his side enough. Worry not, because there is a lot more to come. Lots and lots of drama mwahaha. Please review. Ja!


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